Justin Timberlake says he was simply referring to a song lyric on Saturday when he appeared to use an expletive to describe his ex-girlfriend Britney Spears.

Timberlake, 32, was performing at DirecTV's Super Saturday Night party in New Orleans during Super Bowl weekend when he introduced his 2002 song "Cry Me a River," Us Weekly reported. "Sometimes in life, you think you found the one," Timberlake told the audience. "But then one day you find out that she is just some ----."

After his comments lit up the Twitterverse, Timberlake took to Twitter himself for clarification. "Wouldn't disrespect ANYONE personally. Ever," the singer-actor tweeted Sunday. "Relax," he added, followed by the phrase "It's Britney ----," the defiant opening line from Spears' 2007 hit "Gimme More." He went on to say that he loved the phrase and meant nothing but respect.

"Cry Me a River," written around the time of his breakup with Spears after three years together, is widely believed to be about her, although Timberlake told MTV at the time, "I'm not going to specifically say if any song is about anybody."

Timberlake, whose concert Saturday included old hits as well as songs from his upcoming album "The 20/20 Experience," married actress Jessica Biel in October. Spears recently broke up with her fiance, talent agent JasonTrawick. Spears and Timberlake first met in 1992 when they both appeared on the Disney Channel's update of "The Mickey Mouse Club."